International Cricket Council (ICC) released the rankings of batsmen and bowlers in Test cricket on the last day of the year i.e. Wednesday, 31 December. The surprising thing is that there is no Indian in the top-5 in the ranking of batsmen in Tests. However, among bowlers, India’s Jasprit Bumrah is the world number-1 bowler. Bumrah has also maintained his position in the latest rankings.

No Indian among top-5 batsmen

England’s Joe Root remains at number-1 position in the ranking of batsmen in Tests. After him, Harry Brook is at number two. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson is at third place and Australia’s Travis Head is at fourth place. In the latest rankings, both have lost one position each. After this, Australia’s Steve Smith is at fifth position, he has lost two places.

Kamindu Mendis of Sri Lanka is at number six. South African captain Temba Bavuma is at seventh and India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal is at eighth. After this, Saud Shakeel of Pakistan is at 9th place and Shubhman Gill of India is at 10th place. In the latest rankings, both Shakeel and Gill have gained one place each.

Jasprit Bumrah number-1 among bowlers

Jasprit Bumrah remains at the top in the rankings of Test bowlers released by ICC. Australia’s Mitchell Starc is at second place after Bumrah. Starc has gained one place. Then Noman Ali of Pakistan is at number three. Noman has gained two places.

Australian captain Pat Cummins is at number four. Cummins has lost 2 places. New Zealand’s Matt Henry is at 5th place, South Africa’s Marco Yansen is at 6th and Australia’s Scott Boland is at 7th. After this, Kagiso Rabada is at number eight, Josh Hazlewood at number 9 and Nathan Lyon at number 10.

Cricket has given the world great batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Virat Kohli. Kurtali Ambrose, Malcom Marshall and Muttiah Muralitharan have carried forward the bowlers’ legacy. One of these names is also of South African fast bowler Dale Steyn, who holds the record of remaining the number-1 bowler for the longest day in Test Rankings. Stan remained the number-1 bowler in the Test for 2,343 days.

Dale Stan, who was famous for his deadly speed and swing, made his international debut in 2004. For the next decade, he led the South African pace attack. Stan first became the world’s number-1 Test bowler in 2008. The golden phase of his career came from here because Dale Steyn had remained the top bowler in the world in red-ball cricket for the next 2,343 days. The record of staying at this point for the longest time is still the name of Stan. He remained the world’s number-one bowler in the Test from 2008 to 2014.

Dale Steyn took 439 wickets in his nearly one and a half decade long Test career and took 439 wickets. Stan is still the highest wicket -taking bowler for South Africa in Test cricket. After him comes the number of Sean Pollock in this list, who took a total of 421 wickets in his red ball career.

The longest bowlers living at number-1 position in Tests

Dale Stan is the longest bowler to remain at number-1 position in Test cricket. The second place was Kurtali Ambrose of West Indies, who remained the top bowler for 1,719 days in the peak of his career. Ambrose took a total of 405 wickets in his Test career. The third number is Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, who had occupied the number-1 position for 1711 days.

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